LB 41 
.n25 
Copy 1 



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S. HEt^ T'^^^ ^rP-' ^ 



DELIVERED AT THE DEDltlATION 



OF THE 






LYCEUM, 



By the Hon. T. !!• M«€aleb, 



DECEMBER 18th, 1849, 



Ml 



i PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE 

^1 COinVCII. OF THE SECO]VI> MU]V ICIP AI.IT Y. 












yj NEW-ORLEANS, 

PRINTED AT THK COMMERCIAL OFFICE, 68 CAMP STREET, 



1850. 



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'mppf^^p-fsfs^ 












DELIVERED AT THE DEDICATION OF THE 



;v the lloii. T. II, M^'€aIclU« 



DECEMBER 18th. 1819. 



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PUBLISHED BY OROEB OF THE 



COUNCIL OF THE SECOND MUNICIPALITY. 




A NEW-ORLEAN^S. 

nUMIiii AT IHE CO.MMERCIAL OI"lItJ:. 68 CAMi' ^rT. 



1850, 



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ADDRESS. 

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, 

There are considerations operating upon my mind, which 
render me reluctant to appear before you, in the discharge 
of the duty assigned me by the too flattering resolution of the 
Council of the Second Municipality of New Orleans. Could 
I have felt myself at liberty to yield to these considerations, you 
would this evening have enjoyed the satisfaction of listening 
to some one far more competent to the duty of spreading before 
you an intellectual repast. While I feel all the humility of one 
conscious of inability to array a literary topic in a garb to ren- 
der it attractive, candor compels me to declare my apprehensions 
of another obstacle, which, he who attempts to engage the at- 
tention of an audience in the city of New Orleans on the sub- 
ject of literature, is but too apt to encounter. With no desire to 
assume the office of Censor, and certainly with no dis- 
position -to play the flatterer, " I speak with the freedom of his- 
tory, and I hope without offence," when I declare, that the citizens 
of this our boasted Southern Emporium, have rarely, very rarely 
indeed, subjected themselves to the imputation of being too en- 
thusiastic in the cause of letters. It is indeed the commonly 
received opinion, that there is no large commercial city in the 
Union so coldly indifferent to the means and measures usually 
resorted to, for the promotion of literary and scientific objects. 
The consciousness of this almost universal indifference in the 
public mind to the cause of letters, weighs like an incubus on 
the hearts, and paralizes the efforts of those, who, warm in 
their devotion to the intellectually great and beautiful, would 
lend their»aid in imparting to the city of their home, those tastes 
and sympathies, which have rendered other cities reno^vned in 
5tory and in song. 



(4) 

Whetlior we sliall contiiiiio to subject ourselves to the Impn- 
tatiou so long and so commonly cast upon ns, is a question which 
must be decided by this audience, in this hall. When I look 
around upon the fair and briliant assemblage, whose presence 
I have the honor and satisfaction of greeting on this interesting 
occasion ; when I contemplate the noble and persevering etlorts 
of the Council of our Municipality in the cause of Education ; 
1 cannot suppress the hope that the decision will be auspicious. 
It is our pride, that here in the Second Municipality, the great 
work of educational reform commenced, and here through the 
blessing of Almighty God, and the indomitable energy of those 
Avho have hitherto guided our destinies, we have an abiding 
confidence that it will at no distant day be brought to a happy and 
glorious consummation. Through the agency of a few con- 
trqjing spirits — rari nanles in g-urg'ite vasto — Avho possessed the 
wisdom to devise, and the courage through good and evil report, 
to execute what they deemed conducive to the permanent wel- 
fare of the community, we have had for the last seven years, in 
successful operation, a system of public education, almost as 
perfect as ever emanated from the wisdom of time honored 
New England. The occasion which has called us together this 
evening, is another evidence of the determination of the praise- 
worthy few, who have given an irresistible momentum to the 
current of public sentiment on this great topic, to prosecute to 
a happy and succesful issue, the noble enterprise in wdiich we 
are embarked. The opening of this spacious and magnificent 
hall, for the first time, this evening, for the purpose of presenting 
in the course of the season, a series of lectures upon difterent 
branches of literature and the sciences, has naturally suggested 
the necessity of attracting public attention to the plan proposed, 
with some general reference to the benefits it is calculated to 
diffuse. You will excuse me therefore if I present to your con- 
sideration, some general remarks on the necessity for increased 
exertions for the promotion of mental and moral excellence. I 
claim for the subject no merit of novelty ; it is however 
forced upon my attention by many considerations connected 



willi tlie pro.^eut position and future prospects of our country, 
luo.st ciitiicult to be resisted. I feel too sensibly my own incom- 
petency to the taslv of creating for it, that warm asid abiding inter- 
est, which its importance to every community most imperatively 
demands. In some other cities of our union, the simple announce- 
ment of our design, would gain for it a heartfelt approval and an 
active support. With fher)ij such enterprises as the one in which 
we are nov;^ engaged, have been so long the cherished objects 
of public favor, so long in succesful prosecution, that they are 
now regarded as an indispensable ingredient of rational 
enjoyment — ^as primarily essential to human happiness. They 
have long ceased to discuss the question whether suchJnstitu- 
1 ions as Lyceums for the delivery of popular lecture/s, be ncccs- 
sari/, and are daily and hourly projecting new schemes, and 
calling into activity new resources, through which they seek 
to augment their usefulness, and perpetuate the blessings they 
diffuse. But here, we have been so long the miserable victims 
of hope deferred — so often known the bitterness of failure, and 
have so seldom been permitted to catch even the glinmierings 
of success, that the zealous champions of the good cause have 
been almost restrained from renewing again the often- 
times unsuccessful struggle. They have been prompted by 
repeated defeats to withdraAV from the hopeless strife, and 
fold their arms in despair. Whether this nielancholjfy 
indiflerence to intellectual advancement, be the result of exces- 
sive wisdom in own conceits or of a solemn conviction that there 
is no height in intellectual excellence to which we liave not al- 
ready attained ; or whether it be the consequence of a want of 
taste to appreciate, or of energy to engage in literary and scien- 
tific pursuits, are also questions which you will decide by your 
future action in reference to the objects we have in view. 

The building in which we are assembled, and which has 
been for some some time past in the progress of construction, 
is now presented to the citizens of the Second Municipality, as 
the best evidence of the satisfactory manner in which the trust 
contided to tlieir representatives has ])cen discharged. The ta.*te 



(6 ) 

in design of itst original projectors, and theskiJlol tlie Arehilept 
under whose superintendence it has been erected, need no en- 
comia from me. The voice of approval from the public at large, 
has already gone forth in expressions of unqualified gratitication 
and delight, and this is surely the meed of praise, most accep- 
table to those interested in receiving it. It stands at once the 
pride and ornament of our great city ; a city, which, with all its 
wealth and commercial resources, has rarely been known to 
unite taste with utility. We watch with interest its beautiful 
columns rising in massive solidity to their majestic height. In a 
few days the capitals and the entablature will take their places, 
and the whole will present to the eye of the beholder, a speci- 
men OT Ionic architecture on which the eye of a Palladio might 
rest with admiration and delight. As we shall hereafter walk 
between the lofty columns, and gaze on the volutes of the capi- 
tals, we shall require but a slight eftbrt of imagination to trans- 
port ourselves to the temple of Minerva Polias at Athens, and 
recall the greatness, the refined and delicate taste of a people, 
whose genius we have emulated but never equalled. 

It is however the spacious hall in which we are 
convened, which more immediately commands our atten- 
tion on the present occasion. Connected as it is with 
with a Library already numbering toi thousand volumes 
judiciously selected, we are enabled to offer to the public 
a source of intellectual recreation, as acceptable as, we 
trust, it may prove permanently beneficial. Here native 
talent Avill be invited to unfold its energies and display its 
power. Here scholars of reputation, from other States of the 
Union will come to minister at the altar consecrated to Science 
and Literature ; and we trust that from this Hall there will go 
forth that devotional love for the grand and beautiful in mind, 
which will exert a salutary and permanent influence, on the 
moral destinies of the great State to whose intellectual advance- 
ment we desire to dedicate the best energies we possess. 

In presenting on this occasion the peculiar motives which 
should animate u? at this time to renewed exertions for the at- 



(7) 

tainniPiil ofa liiglicr degree ofmental and moral excellence, I shall 
be excused lor addressing myself more immediatelly io young me?i', 
those who have embarked, or are making preparations to embark 
on the voyage of active life. The presence of many of the young 
gentlemen of the Literary society, already numbering between for. 
ty and fifty members, who hold their regular meetings within the 
walls of this building; the presence of the young gentlemen, who 
liave come as strangers to our city, to qualify themselves in our 
infant University to engage in professional pursuits, as well as 
the youthof the larger part of my audience, will afford me an 
apology for indulging the predilections of my own mind. I 
confess there is more satisfaction in communing with joung, 
susceptible and ardent spirits, than in assuming the office of 
counsellor ^' to those, whose seniority in years, places 
them beyond the pale of admonition from the humble individual 
who has the honor to appear before you on the present occasion. 
From the patriarchs of the land — those who should stand forth as 
leaders in every laudable enterprise, we have, with a few noble 
exceptions, received nothing, and have nothing to expect. 
Where we may find one, whose sympathies are enlisted in the pro- 
motion of the mental and moral excellence of this great city, we 
shall meet with hundreds as utterly insensible to appeals upon all 
subjects, except those which relate to pecuniary gain, as the very 
pavements upon which they tread. An appeal to them, however 
pathetic, upon any other topic, would fall powerless at their feet. 
An argument, however cogent^ if it should ever reach them, 
Avould produce no other effect, than the prostration, by the vio- 
lence of its rebound, of him who should have the temerity to hurl it. 
They have witnessed unmoved the desolation which surrounds 
them for almost half a century. They desire no change, and 
least of all such change as a mental and moral revolution would 
produce among them. Nothing but the trump of an arch- 
angel could rouse them from the stolidity of their cherished re- 
pose. The time however is coming, and now is, when, in our 
portion of the Union at least, the order of nature will be rever- 
sed, and the young will stand forth as examples to the old. 



Come theu my yomig friends, whose hearts arc open to thr 
<?nnoblmg influen(5e of intellectual pursuits, and have not yet 
caught the contagion of the sordid atmosphere you inhale, it is 
to you we make our final appeal, it is to you we look for coun- 
tenance and support in the mental and moral conflict in which 
we are about to engage. 

Let us turn for a moment to the past, contemplate the present, 
glance at the future, and seriously consider the duties which 
are soon to devolve upon you as actors in the great drama 
of life. 

There is perhaps no period in the life of a young man more 
interesting or important than that, at which occurs the disrup- 
tion ofthe ties which have bound him to a venerable Alma Mater. 
With a heart bounding with hope and longing for novelty, or 
exulting at the thought of independence and self-reliance, he 
thinks only of scenes of excitement, which a young and vivid 
imagination has depicted to his view. Whether these scenes 
be such as would breath in the harmonious and enchantinj? 
conceptions — the chiaro oscuro of Corregio, or fire the Avild and 
terrible fancy of Salvator Rosa, he still draws from them hope to 
flatter and novelty to cheer. He little dreams how soon the 
trials and adversities of life, may change his confidence in his 
own self-sufficiency to encounter the storms of life, into a full 
conciousness of his weakness; his high and exultant anticipa- 
tions into despondency and gloom. Like Obidah the son of 
Abensina in the Oriental tale of the great modern moralist, he 
commences the journey of life all animated with hope, and in- 
cited by desire ; all his senses are gratified, and all care is ban- 
ished from his heart. He is lost in pleasing contemplations 
and lulled by confidence into security ; he Avandcrs uncons- 
ciously from the beaten track, till the clouds of disappointment 
obscure the brightness of his prospects, and the tempest of ad- 
versity awakens him to a sense of his Aveakness and his danger. 
He is forced at length to rely upon a superior power, derives 
consolation from the precepts of venerable experience, reposes 
sweetly under the calming influence of philosophy, and rises 



wiiii renovated .slrenglh "to begin anew hi.s journey and his 
life." 

These reflections are naturally suggested by the pre- 
sence of those who have bid adieu to the scenes of their ac- 
ademical career, have assumed, or are about to assume 
the performance of duties on a broader and more exten- 
ded arena. The monitory voice which has hitherto directed 
their course, and quickened their energies in the prosecution of 
their intellectual avocations, will be heard no longer. The 
happy companionship of noble and generous competitors in the 
same high and honorable career, will be enjoyed no longer. 
And while I feel that it is doing no violence to the natufral as- 
pirations of the human mind, to presume that painful regrets of 
a final separation, are assuaged if not counteracted by that 
sleepless ambition which looks far beyond the present hour, 
which sends the thoughts into futurity, and fixes them on the tri- 
umphs that await it there, the friendly admonitions of experience, 
may be permitted to remind my young friends, that no changes 
of time, place, or fortune, can erase from their recollection, those 
scenes of early mental development and rational enjoyment. The 
most important incidents of life are the longest cherished in 
our memories ; the mind can no more lose the remembrance of 
the theatre of its early triumphs in the empire of Knowledge, 
than the conqueror of a hundred fields can forget the spot, 
where, in the presence of embattled legions, the diadem' of 
laurel first encircled his brow. We can as easily forget the 
home of our childhood, where we were "rocked by the beating 
of a mother's heart," and nurtured into strength and maturity 
beneath her devoted care ; where paternal authority and 
paternal solicitude were blended for the promotion of our wel- 
fare and happiness, as we can cease to recur Avith gratitude 
and delight to the kindly care and virtuous admonitions of a 
venerated preceptor. The sleepless vigilance which ministers 
to the wants of helpless infancy ; the voice which prompts us to 
the pursuits of virtue and honor, and leads us in humble prayer 
around tliciiunilyultar. to the throne of our creator; like patient 



( J-0) 

forbearance with youthful perversity and repugnance to intel- 
lectual effort, will receive from every refined and deli- 
cate heart, \gfatitude inspired by long years of devotion 
which we know and feel, can never be repaid. "Whatever 
may be our future lot, in whatever land our fortunes 
may be cast, the voice of affectionate kindness, come 
from whatever source it may, will fall upon the heart, 
in the hour of sorrow, like the music of a dream, and 
the heart itself will respond in the touching numbers of 
the lord of British song : 

'' Blessed — as the Muezzin's strain from Mecca's wall, 
■ To pilgrims pure aud prostrate at his call, 
Soft — as the melody of youthful days, 
That steals the trembling tear of speechless praise. 
Dear — as his native song to exile's ears, 
Shall be the tones that long loved voice endears." 

However ardently then you may have longed for the moment 
which relieved you from the supposed restraints of college 
discipline and set you free upon the wide world ; believe mc, you 
Avill hail with delight the hour when you can revisit the spot 
where the mind was first taught its powers, first feh its longings 
after immortaity ; where the fancy plumed its earliest flights ; 
where the soul first held communion Avith the great of yore, "those 
dead but sceptered sovereigns, who still rule our spuits from 
their urns." You will seek agam your academic haunts with 
the veneration which enspued a devotee of the Druidical supersti- 
tion upon entering the consecrated groves. Like the young prince 
of Abyssinia, passing the barriers of the happy valley, to seek 
in the busy world, and in other lands, to satisfy a longing for hap- 
piness which that world, with all the philosophical disquisitions 
of Imlac could not gratify, and returning again to his peaceful 
abode, you will seek again the quietude and repose, to 
which you have cheerfully bid adieu. And " ye who listen 
Avith credulity to the whispers of fancy, who pursue with eager- 
ness the phantoms of hope, who think that age will perform the 
promises of youth, that the deficiencies of the pret-cnt day will 



( H) 

ha snp])liod ])y the morrow," may atlend with equal benefit and 
pleasure to the history of Rasselas, prince of Abyssinia. You 
dream not, that beyond the visible calm of the horizon, there 
rises the tempest-borne cloud ; and happy Avill you be, if 
your morning of sunshine be not succeeded by an evening of 
storms. 

I would not, by these reflections, arrest for a moment the 
propulsive energies of young and daring hearts; damp the 
ardor of generous ambition, or throw a cloud of despondency 
over brilliant hopes and joyful anticipations. You have the 
bane before you, and it is for you to provide the antidote. The 
sooner we bring the mind to a close and familiar acquaintance 
with the difficulties and calamities of life, the sooner do we 
awaken it to a sense of its power and capacity to engage and 
overcome them. That which we know must be encountered, is 
divested of half its terrors, by the fixed determination to over- 
throw it. Formidable, " as an army with banners," are the ob- 
stacles, which rise like Alpine barriers to resist your progress ; 
but to opposing hosts, upheld by resolution, and eager for victory, 
the sensa.tion of timidity is changed into " stern joy " and " fierce 
delight," in proportion to the extent of the perils which thicken 
around the devoted champion. To the ocean-tossed mariner, 
the deep has lost its horrors, because the severe lessons of ex- 
perience, aided by the eternal light of science, have enabled him 
to defy the billows in their wrath, and to bafhe the power of 
the tempest. 

Permit me then to present to you the peculiar motives which 
should prompt you, as young Americans, to take courage, and 
redouble your efforts for the attainment of the only object worthy 
of human ambition — intellectual and moral excellence. In 
connection with this subject, I shall freely and Avithout reserve, 
interchange with you sentiments on the duties which will inevi- 
tably devolve upon you as good patriots, and as useful mem- 
bers of society. For the time has past, my young friends, 
when consistently with the dictates of patriotism, individual 



( 12) 

interest or liappincss can be consulted, to tlie exclusion of 
all that appertains to the common weal. In the prose- 
cution of the particular profession or avocation you have 
selected for an honest livelihood, you will not be at liberty, as 
good citizens, to disregard the duties you owe to your 
country. 

It should be regarded as an instance of singularly good for- 
tune, that you are permitted to enter upon the active duties of 
life, at a period when our country stands proudly erect among 
the nations of the earth. She has but recently emerged from a 
foreign war, attended with the usual obstacles, ^trials and cal- 
amities, with a military escutcheon emblazoned by victories, 
the most brilliant in modern times, and untarnished by a single 
defeat. Her banner has been borne triumphant against a nu- 
merical superiority, unknown since the famous fields of Poicters 
and Cressy, where the Oriflamme of the House of Valois, fell 
before the Leopard of England, sustained by those matchless 
heroes — sire and son — of the House of Plantagenet. Her vic- 
torious legions, having signally accomplished the purposes for 
which they took the field, have as easily resumed their private 
pursuits in the various departments of civil life, as they promptly 
relinquished those pursuits in obedience to her summons to meet 
the defiance of her enemies on the embattled plain, or from the 
bristling ramparts and frowning fortresses of their strength. 
The sword and the spear have been exchanged for the plough- 
share and pruning hook — the arts of Avar have been abandoned 
for the quiet pursuits of the arts of peace. Nor was the progress 
of war itself, though attended as it necessarily must be with 
carnage and suffering, characterised on our part, with those 
cruelties and that moral desolation, Avhich usually follow in its 
train. Our generals, even in the flush of victory, never forgot 
the obligations of Christians. They tempered the sternness of 
necessity with the spirit of humanity. They prosecuted war, 
not for the sake of blood and conquest, but for the only legiti- 
mate objects of Avar — the redress of Avrongs, and the re-estab- 
lishment of peace. With jnalclilcss military skill, they signally 



( 1.3 ) 
combined all ihe altribiito?!, considered by the Roman Orator, 
in his portraiture of the character of the great Pompey, essential 
to a consmiimate commander. Non enim solum bellandi virtus in 
snmmo atque pcrfccto Imperatore qucercnda est : sed multa) 
sunt artes eximiEe, hujus administrae, comitesque virtutis. Ac 
primum quanta innocentia debent esse Imperatores I Quanta 
deinde omnibus in rebus temperantia I Quanta fide ! Quanta 
facilitate I Quanto ingenio ! Quanta humanitate I ^ 

The fruits and consequences of the war thus happily termi- 
nated, are presented to our contemplation, in the increased and 
increasing confidence, Avhich every good patriot must feel in 
the stability of our political institutions ; in the stronger attach- 
ment which is everywhere felt for our Federal Union, whose 
several j^arts have so nobly contributed to the promotion of the 
national glory ; and in the augmentation of the national wealth 
and power by the expansion of territory, which has opened the 
way for the peaceful march of our countrymen across the conti- 
nent. In this acqusition of vast additional territory, we behold 
a new and nobler field for the display of American energy and 
enterprise, in every professional pursuit and in every branch of 
industrial employment. The demands for physical labor have 
been encreased, and the incitements to intellectual effort have 
been multiplied beyond all human calculation. Our almost 
boundless domain must be covered by an Amercan population, 
subject to Amercan laws, and acknowledging the supremacy of 
the great principles of American Republicanism. The axe and 
the plough-share, are to be accompanied by their inseparable 
companions and coadjutors in the great work of American civ- 
ilization—the BIBLE and the FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
In their train will follow the arts and sciences, and aU the bles- 
sings of civil and religious liberty. To whom, then, can we look 
to become the standard bearers of our christian faith — the em- 
issaries of the meek and lowly Jesus ; to whom can we look to 
become the enactors, expositors and executors of the laws ; to 
whom can we look to become the ministers to the wants of 

* Oralin prolparR Munilia. » 



; 14) 

puftering humanity in the great licaling art ; lo wliom can ^ve 
look to answer tlie ten thoitsand demands to be made upon hvi- 
man skill and ingenuity in every branch of mathematical and 
physical science — if not to the youlk of our cou/dri/, now emer- 
ging from our seminaries of learning, to take their places upon 
the stage of active life. Upon them the high hopes of the 
country must repose. The ark of our political covenant, atten- 
ded by the trumpets of the jubilee, is borne westward, and it 
is for you, like the " Beauty of Isreal " to defend it upon your 
" high places." 

A common som*ce of despondency among young men who 
are making preparation to engage in the active business of 
life, is the fact that they find the ranks of every profession 
already crowded with competitors. They naturally conclude 
that in a race of diligence and energy where multitudes 
engage in a contest for victory, defeat and discomfiture must 
be the lot of many. They are moreover but too Avell aware 
that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the 
strono". They have too often seen impudent mediocrity 
triumph over real merit. They have too often seen noisy 
garrulity and presumptuous self-conceit, floating on the full 
tide of prosperity, while doubting genius has struggled in vain 
against the Avaves of adversity. They too often literally see 
fools rush m, where wise men fear to tread. But these are 
common evils in the lot of humanity, — incidents in the tale of 
every day life, with which, as we increase in years, we become 
the more familiar. They remind us of the inequality, with 
which the favors of fortune ever have been, and ever will be 
distributed. It is, hoAvever, an inequality for which the 
philosophic and energetic mind will at all times be prepared. 
Such a mind regardless of mere pecuniary reward, will rather 
aspire to those intellectual and moral tritimphs that must 
•ultimately crown the efforts of its possessor. While it is but 
too true, that there are many in every profession, who without 
the gift of great mental endowments, and without any extraor- 
dinary energy or perseverance, have by dint of officious 



( 1^'^ ) 

management and subtle calculation, to wiiich the devoted 
student is a stranger, rapidly risen to prosjjcrity, and to a 
species of rank and distinction which the acquisition of wealth 
rarely fails to command in the judgment of the Avorld, it is 
equally true, that to that student, tlie man of intellectual 
research, the laborer in the fields of thought, every profession 
is indebted for its usefulness, its intellectual achievements, its 
great moral triumphs, and its salutary influence upon the des- 
tinies of mankind. 

I would here avail myself of the occasion, to enforce what 
must be deemed a fundamental principle in the government of 
our conduct, whilst engaged in the practice of our professions : 
it is never, in the ardent pursuit of Avealth, to lose sight of the 
professional dignity and honor we assume and are bound to 
maintain. We should feel, that it is not enough that we 
perform our duties in an ordinary manner. We should 
not be content with common accuracy or such excel- 
lence as ordinary diligence or rectitude of conduct may 
acquire. We should aspire to reach a point beyond mere 
negative goodness or negative respectability. It was the 
remark of the celebrated Lord Coke, that every man owes a 
debt to his profession which he is bound to discharge. There 
are extraordinary duties devolving upon all who embark in a 
learned and honorable profession, which cannot be performed 
Avithout the observance of extraordinary diligence and a 
scrupulous regard for all the amenities of life, for all those 
social virtues, which diffuse a charm over professional emi- 
nence. For reputation, however brilliant, if divested of the 
moral radiance which honor and integrity can alone impart, 
may command the wonder, but never the admiration of the 
Avorld. It may conduce to the accomplishment of personal 
aggrandizement, but never to the promotion of human happi- 
ness. For 

'• Talents angt;! bright 

ifwautiu:^ worth, are shining instruments 
In false ambition's hand, to linisli faults 
lUuslrious, and give infamy renown.'' 



{ J-6) 

Let Its ever bear in mind that there is a scrupulous delicacy 
to be obrfcrved in our intercourse with professional brethren, 
which cannot with impunity be violated. Do unto others as 
you would have others do unto you, is a golden maxim in 
morals, that can never grow old. Its practical application to 
all the pursuits of life, has done more for the harmony and 
happiness of society, than all the codes that were ever enacted. 
How often would a rigid observance of its mandate prevent 
those bickerings and heart-burnings so commonly the result 
of envy, malice and all uncharitableness. Among students of 
Theology we have a stronger guaranty that its benign 
precept will be followed. It forms one of the fundamental 
principles of the great code they will be called upon to 
expound, and any deviation from the line of duty prescribed 
by an union of precept and example, will sooner and more 
signally encounter the severe judgment of the worl4. It can- 
not, however, be denied that there have been many, even in 
that high and holy calling, who have strangely Avandered 
from the beaten track pointed out by the lessons, which they 
themselves habitually inculcate. It cannot be denied that 
there are noiu, as there were in the tunes of Shakspeare, some 
who fall Avithin that denomination of "ungracious pastors,'' 
alluded to in the sisterly admonition of the poor Ophelia— 
who shoAV to others 

'•' The steep and thorny way to heaven, 
Whilst still iike putTed and reckless libertines, 
Themselves the primrose path of dalliance tread, 
And reck not their own read." 

But it is in the Legal and Medical professions we some- 
times witness a disposition fraught with deleterious con- 
sequences. It is a disposition to promote individual success 
at the expense of personal dignity and professional propriety. 
It is exhibited in efforts to detract from the reputation for slcill 
or learning, attributed to others engaged in the same pursuits. 
Whether this course of conduct be prompted by envy, ambition 
or a love o{ gain, it tends directly to the interraption of profes- 



(17) 

sional harmony, and to the diminution of that general confi- 
dence which should ever be reposed in professional integrity 
and skill. It is, I need not say, all radically wrong in principle. 
It is at Avar with all the virtues which constitute and adorn the 
character of a gentleman. It should find no countenance from 
generous and exaUed minds; it can claim no affinity with 
nobility of soul I am no enemy to a fair and candid criticism. 
It is absolutely necessary for the protection of society against, 
the ignorance of pettifoggers and charlatans. It is the surest 
guaranty for professional improvement, and should be as 
sacredly mamtained as general freedom of speech, or the 
freedom of the press. But it is to the acrimonious temper 
and to the mterested motives which usually prompt it, that 
objections are seriously and solemnly to be urged. In a 
country like ours, Avhere opportunities are afforded alike to 
all — where the field of competition is open to all, ambition 
should be amenable to the laws of honor, the spirit of 
emulation should be tempered by generosity; and in the 
prosecution of the learned professions which are peculiarly the 
test of intellectual excellence, we should rest our hopes of 
success upon intellectual superiority alone. Follow then the 
paternal advice of the venerable Polonius, and 
Give thy thoughts no tongue, 
Nor any unproportioncd thought his act. 
****** 

Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice. 

Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. 

****** 
This above all, — to thine own self be true : 
And it it must follow as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man. 

There is another topic to which I will here briefly allude' 
and which indeed cannot be wholly omitted on an occasion 
like this. In our aspirations for political or official distinction, 
let us ever bear in mind that the question of merit is, and 
always must be, a matter to be decided by the general voice 
of the community in which we live, and can never with 



( 18) 
propriety be the subject of our own personal appeal There 
is certainly nothing censurable in a desire to occupy a promi- 
nent official or political position. It should be regarded rather 
as the evidence of a laudable ambition. We should, however, 
religiously act upon the principle, that offices are created for 
the welfare and convenience of the public, and not for the 
personal benefit of those who may be chosen to fill them. As 
these offices must be supplied, it is the primary object of every 
enlightened community to supply them with incumbents, 
recommended by considerations of moral and intellectual 
excellence. These considerations are assuredly not matters 
determinable by the aspirant himself. He cannot consistently 
with modesty, one of the highest evidences of that excellence 
which qualifies an individual for a public station, urge his own 
claims by setting forth his own peculiar virtues. This would 
be combining insult with arrogance. It is arrogance to assume 
the exclusive knowledge of one's own qualifications, and the 
right to decide upon their sufficiency ; it is an insult offered to 
the community at large, thus to remind them of their ignorance 
of merit, and their incapacity to discover where it really 
exists. And herein consists one of the most glaring and 
flagrant inconsistencies in the characters of the presumptuous 
demagogues with whom every community is bomitifully 
provided. They are perpetually clamoring about the virtue 
and intelligence of the people ; their capacity for self-govern- 
ment ; their unerring wisdom in the choice of their rulers and 
representatives; in all which, they with the utmost sincerity 
believe, but ever with the important mental reservation that 
they themselves, the peculiar friends of the people, are made 
the special objects of the peoples' favor. 

If we would become exemplary citizens, and useful public 
servants, we must pursue the track diverging farthest from 
that most commonly followed by these boisterous, pragmatical 
disturbers of social order. We could pardon a Coriolanus, 
who 

■' Would not flatter Neptune for hi;- +rideiU. 
Or Jove for hi? power to thunder."-' 



( 19 ) 

but who could, when occasion demanded, " flutter" the 
enemies of his country in their citadels, " like an eagle in a 
dovecote ;" who " talked like a knell, and whose hum was a 
battery ; who sat in his state, as a thing made for Alexander, 
and what he bade be done, was finished Avith his bidding ; who 
v/anted nothing of a God but eternity, and a heaven to throne 
in." The contemptuous indifference of such a hero to popular 
sentiment, is lost in our admiration of his lion-hearted valor, 
and his lofty elevation above the hypocritical wiles of ther 
obsequious demagogues, who "shout forth" the people, 
In acclamations hyperbolical, 
As if they loved their little should be dieted 
In praises sauced with lies. 
There have been periods in the history of governments, and 
especially of free governments, when these restless aspirants 
for individual aggrandizement, were the most dangerous 
enemies to the peace and security of the State, with whom 
patriotism was called upon to contend. They usually com- 
bined with an utter destitution of moral principle, the posses- 
sion of great mental endowments. The success of their 
political machinations, was rendered more certain by superior 
powers of persuasion operating upon feebler minds. Their 
great capacity to combine and control the mighty elements 
they pvit in motion, was to be met by the highest abilities the 
State could summon to its aid. The utmost vigilance for- 
tified by the noblest powers of eloquence, was invoked, to coun- 
teract their pernicious designs. It required all the eloquence 
and activity of Demosthenes, to defeat the treasonable pur- 
poses of Demades, and to baffle the intrigues of the mercenary 
emissaries of Philip, in the very heart of Athens. The 
corruptions of Cataline and his followers, could only be 
detected and exposed through the noblest exertions of Cicero ; 
and even the eloquence of that godlike patriot, could not 
ultimately rescue the liberties of the Republic from the grasp 
of the most accomplished demagogue the world ever saw. 

But from their numerical strength, these panders to popular 
prejudice and lovers of popular commotion, may, in our 



( 20 ) 

country, be regarded rather as a pest and a source of annoy 
ance, than, as they were in the olden time, a cause of danger 
to the State. Here, 1 am inclined to believe, we derive 
security from their very numbers. Their aims are generally 
frustrated by the counteracting efforts of opposing spirits 
striving for the accomplishment of the same objects. The 
are never willing that more than one orb should glitter in the 
same firmament, and their political frauds are more effectually 
exposed by competitors familiar with the arts, by which those 
frauds can be most successfully perpetrated. In all this there 
is nothing strange or extraordinary ; on the contrary, it is 
strictly in accordance with the well recognized principle of 
setting a gambler, to unmask the designs of one of the like 
profession, upon the credulity of an unsuspecting novice, — or 
of placing a thief, to detect an adept in the arts of his own 
peculiar calling. 

Thus, we perceive, that under our admirable form of 
government, by a peculiar operation of circumstances,, 
even demagogues may be made subservient to the well- 
being of society, and the security of the State. That they 
are, however, a source of more annoyance than actual benefit, 
must be evident to all, Avho have seen them in our halls of legis- 
lation. For it cannot be denied, that through a criminal indiffer- 
ence to the sacred right of suffrage — through the instrumentality 
of a too credulous public virtue or exhausted public patience 
yielding to ceaseless importunity, they are literally thronging 
the high places which were once exclusively designed for the 
calm deliberation of wisdom and patriotism, but which by 
them are converted into arenas for the conflict of political 
gladiators. It is there, we have seen them relax the wonted 
vigilance of their espionage on the maneuvres of each other, 
and with all the impudence of ignorance, assail those venera- 
ble statesmen, whom long years of noble service have elevated 
to the pinnacle of fame, and established in the confidence of 
their country. Yea, we have seen these noisy, newly fledged 



(21) 

birds of ill-omen, — the more noisy, because the more nen-^iy 
fledged, — borne by the popular gale, to an unwonted elevation, 
soar and wheel in their pride of place, and caw and croak 
defiance to the eagle on his mountain throne. 

The surest guaranty for the success of these suppli- 
ants for popular favor, is popular ignorance. And there is, 
my young friends, in the long catalogue of moral obligations we 
are called upon to discharge, not one more important than tl\al 
which requires us to aid in extending the empire of knowledge ; 
and there is perhaps not one, which so bountifully remu- 
nerates in earthly happiness, the devoted champion, who 
engages his energies in its faithful performance. Whether 
we regard it as the means of increasing our own literary and 
scientific store, or of imparting its enjoyment to others, it is 
replete with that mental gratification, which the world can 
neither give nor take away. We have learned little 
indeed, if the extent of our acquisitions has not rendered 
us deeply sensible of the narrow limits, by which our 
learning is bounded ; if, in our own estimation, we have 
advanced further than the elevation, Avhich commands the 
boundless prospect before and around us. But is there 
one of U9, as he contemplates this boundless prospect, 
prepared to pause and sit down in despair ? Are we 
not rather prompted by the recollection of pleasures, which 
past triumphs, however insignificant, afforded, to continue a 
journey presenting new scenes of delight, new objects of 
attraction, at every step of our progress. Is there one of us, 
who would for any earthly consideration, surrender the little 
he has acquired? Could we be tempted to close our eyes 
forever on that eternal light of science, which has already 
revealed to us so many of the recondite truths of nature ; and 
which still charms us onward, to other and more glorious 
discoveries, on other and more glorious fields of observation. 
There is not a planet that blazes along its orbit ; there is not 
a star that glitters in the firmament, from the luminous 
nebuloE in the galaxy which spans tKe heavens, to the constel- 



{22) 

lations of Orion and the Pleiades, 1 hat does not attract us upward 
— upward, to that glowing field, where nobler conquests still, 
await the march of astronomical science. Other and bolder tele- 
scopes, with lenses more powerful than any that yet hath 
aided the natural vision, must sweep these glowing tracks of 
space. 

In the sciences of geology and mineralogy, the enthusiast 
Avill find in his rambles through our wide domain, objects 
upon which the appetite of curiosity may feast itself to satiety, 
irom the steril sands of the desert, to the inexhanstible alluvion 
of our own great valley — from the silica of the brook to 
the marble and granite of the everlasting hills — from momitains 
of iron to whole valleys filled with lumps of that precious 
metal, which is more than realizing to the Hercules of 
modern cupidity the ancient fable of the golden apples in tiMfc^. 
gardens of the Hesperides. 

We witness with admiration the triumphs of chemistry, not 
only in promoting the many useful purposes to which it has, 
from time immemorial, been directed, but in the advancement 
of the great interests of commerce and agriculture. 

Need I pause with you in the regions of electricity, in 
which the great American philosopher performed such bold 
exploits. He little dreamed perhaps, while he played with the 
lightning, disarmed it of its terrors, and reduced it to submis- 
sion, that the subtle fluid would ere long become the more 
than winged messenger of nations, — the Ariel of the air, 
obedient to the magic wand of the Prospero of science, and 
prompt to peform his bidding. 

We turn from the Avalks of science to the bowers of literary 
repose. We hold communion with the mighty intellects who 
have gone before us. Is there any earthly consideration that 
would induce us to abandon them forever ? He who derives 
no enjoyment from such society, is devoid of every noble sympa- 
thy of our nature. It is surely a most inestimable privilege 
to be permitted to hold communion with their departed- 
spirits, through the medium of their immortal productions. 



(2:j) 

Happy is he, who can withdraw himself from a sordid, 
utilitarian world, and enjoy the companionship of Shakspeare 
and Milton. Happy is he, who can roam with Temple in the 
gardens of Sheen ; or retire to the shades of Twickenham and 
Dawley, and in the society of Pope and Bolingbrokc, listen 
while they indulge in literary and philosophical speculations. 
Happy is he, who can become with Addison and Steele, a 
spectator of the virtues and follies of men, or join in the 
adventures of Hawkesworth, and the rambles of Johnson, 
and imbibe the noble precepts which breathe in their pure and 
elegant essays, so practically illustrative of the principles of 
the only philosophy, that can harmonize the intercourse of 
man with his fellow man, in every variety of pursuit, and in 
all the relations of life. Sad indeed is the reflection, that the 
glorious effusions of intellects such as these, are almost lost 
under the chaotic mass of ephemeral productions, which a 
prolific press is annually pouring upon the Avorld. 

But, my young friends, if the intellectual efforts of modern 
genius be necessary to our happiness, or to our progress in 
mental and moral excellence, let us never forget the source, 
from whence the real greatness and glory of that genius were 
derived. Let us never forget the master spirits of antiquity. 
Amid the arduous toils of professional life, we can find no 
recreation more congenial than a close and familiar com- 
munion with their ol3rmpic minds. Over the pages of the 
Iliad, we are still permitted to approach the presence, and hear 
the very tones of the " blind old man of Scio's rocky isle,' 
wlio yet reigns monarch on Parnassus ; who is still, in the 
language of one of his noblest disciples in the epic muse — the 
great Florentine who sung of liell, — 

Quel signor dell, allissimo canto, 
Clie sovii gli altri, com^ aquila, vola.* 

We can still wander with Thucydides and Plutarch, over 
the battle-fields of Greece, and contemplate the deeds of her 

* ''• That Lord of highest song, who like an eagle soars above the rest." 

Dante's Inferno Canto iv. 



(24) 

statesmen and heroes. We can walk in imagination amid 
the ornamented temples of Athens in the palmy days of her 
glory, during the administration of Pericles. We can gaze 
on the lofty form of the great minister as he rises on the 
bema to address that fierce democracy on the affairs of the 
State. We see huTi descend amid thunders of applause, and 
repair to the Parthenon or the Psecile, where we may almost 
hear his criticisms on the magnificent works of sculpture from 
the chisel of his favorite Phidias, or the celebrated representa- 
tion of the great battle of Marathon, from the pencil of 
Pananus. Over the pages of the Anabasis, we love to be 
transported to the groves of Scillus, and in the society of 
Xenophon, hear the elegant historian recount the incidents of 
the famous retreat of the ten thousand, conducted under his 
own matchless generalship. We turn to the pages of the 
Cyropoedia, and our admiration of the miliary hero is lost 
in love for the moralist, as we imbibe the ennobling principles 
imparted by his vivid delineation of the character of a wise 
and virtuous monarch. Over his Memorabilia of Socrates, we 
catch from a favorite disciple, the pure precepts of morality 
living as they fell from the mouth of that venerable and almost 
divine philosopher. We. return to Athens, and join the crowd 
of Athenian youth assembled in the gardens of the Academy, 
to listen to a glowing lecture from Plato, — or that throng of 
Peripatetics we see entering for a morning's walk with Aris- 
totle or Theophrastus, the olive groves of the Lyceum. Over 
the orations of Demosthenes, we hear in imagination, not what 
we are usually compelled to tolerate, the " cheap extempora- 
neous rant of modern demagogues " but what the Athenian 
democracy were accustomed to hear,-the most elaborate, the 
most nobly conceived and closely studied efforts of the human 
mind, which in the whole range of oratorical productions, 
have been transmitted for the admiration of mankind. We 
hear with the generous impulses of patriotism, the denuncia- 
tions of the orator, bursting like the delegated wrath of 
heaven, against the monarch of Macedonia. We hear him 



( ^5 ) 
oa ihe l"ainoii.:j occa.sioii ol the proseculiGu against Cieiiiphoit 
for his proposition to award the golden crown, — an occasion 
which, assembled at Athens a multitude from all parts of 
Greece, and when the orator was called to encounter an adver- 
sary worthy of his own great fame. At the close of that celebrated 
debate, — and whether regarded as a strictly legal discussion, 
or as a magnificent specimen of forensic eloquence, it still stands 
unequalled, — we join in the applause which follows the deci- 
sion in favor of Demosthenes, but we also shed a tear on the 
announcement of the sentence, which sends his brilliant rival 
into exile. 

But passing from Athens to Rome, — from the Areopagus 
and the assemblages of the people, to the Senate House and 
the Forum, — we still move amid scenes where the mind may 
ever wander with melancholy delight. From the society of 
Xenophon and Plato, Demosthenes and ^Eschines, we pass to 
that of Cicero and Cato and Brutus and Csesar. Over the 
pages of Cicero and Sallust, we may even hear the memor- 
able debate on the punishment to be inflicted on the associates 
of Cataline. We pause and enter the Senate House on the 
interesting occasion. Silanus has introduced his proposition 
for the immediate execution of the conspirators, and Caesar is on 
the floor, delivering his elegant, elaborate and philosophical a r= 
gument against capital punishment. The previously formed 
opinions of Senators are shaken by the ingenious and masterly 
effort of a man skilled in all the arts of an accomplished oratoi" 
Even Silanus himself, in a tone of apology, would modify his 
proposition, when we see the imposing form of the Consul4^ 
Cicero himself, rising to respond. Behold the civic victor of many 
a well fought field ! Listen to those tones so often heard in the 
Forum, in vindication of persecuted innocence ; in the Senate 
House, in defence of suffering freedom ;— and heard but a few 
days before, swelling in strains of burning indignation against 
these same conspirators, along the lofty dome of the Temple of 
Concord, His noble countenance beams with the fire of pa- 
triotism and with 

That stern joy whicli warriois feel 

lu foemeii worthy of their steel. 



{ 2(1 ) 

He has encomilercd an adversary before whom, in the arts 
of eloquence, he alone could stand erect, and before wliom, in 
iuiotlier art and on another field, even he was destined to stand 
powerless, and contemplate in silence and sorrow the crum- 
bling fabric of a once glorious republic. 

Here his victory is complete. He sits down amid the applause 
of that venerable band of patriots, and the stern voice of Cato 
sustaining the opinion of Cicero, closes the debate. The Senate 
adjourns. — The conspirators pay with their lives the penalty of 
iheir crimes. — Rome is saved. — The Consul is triumphant. — 
The City is illuminated in honor of her deliverance ; we hear 
the shouts of the multitude, who follow the footsteps of their 
venerated Consul to his home. The wives and daughters of 
the citizens come forth on the lofty porticos, to attest by their 
smiles and their tears, their gratitude to their country's deliverer. 
We gaze on the placid brow of the god-like man, as Avith 
measured tread, in his robes of office, and surrounded with the 
simple insignia of authority, he moves in the midst of that re- 
joicing throng. We join that triumphal procession — we swell 
those notes of acclamation in honor of the noblest champion of 
Libert}', the Avorld ever saw. 

But let us visit him in his moments of release from the cares 
of state and the pursuits of the forum, in the peaceful shades of 
Tusculanum. Let us hear hirn taliv Avith Atticus on let- 
ters and philosophy, or lament Avith Sulpicius over the Ava- 
iling glories of the Republic, Let us behold him again in his 
venerable age, Avhen that Republic Avas no more, repairing to 
ilie Senate House, to plead, in the presence of the Dictator, the 
cause of the exiled Marcellus ; or, let us hear him Avhile beset 
by the daggers of assassins, scourge as Avith a Avhip of scorpions 
the vices of the profligate Antony, and mark his solemn tones 
while he gives utterance to those sentiments of patriotic dcA'otion, 
Avhich alone should "canonize his memory in the hearts of the 
champions of republican liberty :" " Quin etiam corpus libenter 
obtulerim, si reprsesentari morte mea libertas civitatis potest ; ut 
aliquando dolor populi Roniani pariat quod jamdiu parturit. 



{ 27) 
Mihi vcro, patres eonscriptl, jam etiam optanda morsf^st, per= 
i'ancto rebus iis, quas adeptus sum, quasque gessi. Duo modo 
haec opto: unum, ut moriens populuin Romanum liberum relin- 
quam; hoc mihi majus a diis immortalibus dari nihil potest: 
aherum, ut ila cuique eveniat, ut de republica quisque 
mereatur." 

We throw a pall over the fallen republic. Wc enlor tlie 
imperial palace in the golden era of Augustus. Our wan= 
derings are no longer cheered by the light of republican 
liberty; but as lovers of learning, we have our meed of 
praise, even for an absolute monarch, if that monarch be a pat- 
ron of letters. We pay our court to Augustus, to gaze on the 
brilliant literary constellation, that glitters around the imperial 
throne. We sympathise with him even in his predilections for the 
pleasures of the banquet, while he reclines between the sighs ot 
Horace and the tears of Virgil ; while he listens at one moment 
to an adulatory song from Ovid, or an elegy from Propertius 
or Tibullus, and at another to an account of their travels from 
Diodorus Siculus and Strabo, to a chapter of his elegant 
history from Livy, or the Biography of a Greek or Roman 
general from Cornelius Nepos. 

We follow with our imprecations the sanguinary Nero, 
for the death of the stern old Seneca. We honor the em- 
peror Vespasian for his friendship to the elder Pliny, and we can 
ahnost pardon the cruelties of Domitian, when we remember the 
favors he bestowed on the accomplished Qumtillian. We vail 
our plumes like loyal courtiers, before the diadem of the virtuous 
Trajan, for his noble liberality to Plutarch. We linger in 
the imperial halls to gain an introduction to Tacitus and the 
younger Pliny, that we may gaze on the beautiful spectacle they 
present, of intellectual excellence, elevated and refined by the 
charms of a pure and devoted friendship. In the former we re- 
cognize the stern republicanism of the days of Cicero and Brutus ; 
and while,for^the elegant adulation bestowed by the latter upon 
the Emperor, we can find an apology in the kindness and con- 
fidence of his sovereign, we love also to record our gratitude for 



( 28 ) 

the humanity and magnanimity he displayed while Froconsuf 
of Pontus and Bythinia, in rebuking the fell spirit of persecution 
against the early Christians, ere the benignant light of their holy 
and self-sacrificing faith had shone through the mists of Pa- 
ganism on the throne of the Cajsars. 

Even at a later and more barbarous period of imperial Rome, 
we can follow the triumphal car of the victorious Aurelian; but 
not to gaze on the spoils of his Oriental conquests. In the 
Jong and magnificent procession that adorns his triumph, there 
moves in sad and solemn but collected dignity, and arrayed iri 
all the attractions of Oriental loveliness, a captive female. She 
is manacled with a golden chain, and led by a slave before the 
glittering chariot of the imperial victor. We turn from the 
conqueror to the conquered. Amid the blaze of trumphant 
power, we are lost in the contemplation of the radiance whicli 
power cannot dim — the radiance of immortal mind. We gaze 
on the young, the beautiful Zenobia; Queen of Palmyra, — the 
learned and accomplished pupil of the celebrated Longinus. 

But I leave you to indulge in your hours of literary repose, 
these imaginary wanderings ; and if we have already lingered 
too long amid the ruins of Athens and of Rome, we can 
find an apology in the interest inspired by the important 
events which have recently been passing in the last men- 
tioned home of ancient freedom. In the contemplation of 
those events, what American Republican does not pray for 
the restoration of her ancient glory ? Who of us, would not 
in the place of the Pontifical government, combining spiritual 
and temporal power, behold once more the Consular authority 
reposing on the popular will, and securing in its origmal effi- 
ciency, the popular freedom ? Who would not, in the place of 
the Vatican, with all its magnificence and grandeur, restore the 
JSenate House in its ancient majesty and glory ? What lover 
of Picpublican liberty, as he dwells in imagination on the 
procession in honor of the civic triumph of a Consul, would not 
contemplate with melancholy emotions, the senseless pageant 
of the representative of spiritual and tt-mporal Huthority, sur- 



( ^i^ ) 

romuled by the gaudy paraphernalia of office, moving over ih? 
very scenes once consecrated by the footsteps of Cicero, — to 
attract, not the gaze of enlightened freemen, but the servile 
worshippers of the splendors of despotism, 

Alas ! the lofty city ! and alas ! 

The trebly hundred triumphs ! and the day 

When Brutus made the daggers edge surpass 

The conqueror's sword in bearing fame away 1 

Alas for Tully's voice, and VirgiFs lay, 

And Livy's pictured page ! — but these shall be 

Her resurrection — all beside — decay. 

Alas for earth ! for never shall we see 

That brightness in her eye, slie bore, when Rome was free ! 

I speak nothing repugnant to the sentiments of a genuine Re- 
publican, whatever may be his religious faith, when I declare that 
I cannot contemplate an union of the powers which are still regar- 
ded as essential to Papal supremacy, without recurring to that 
gloomyperiod in the history of the world, when^-overnments claim- 
ed the peculiar privilege of binding alike the human frame and the 
human mind ; when the tortures of the body were resorted to, to 
bend and fashion the faith of the immortal soul; and when that soul 
aspiring to a closer communion with its God was subdued and 
fettered by manacles forged by the bloody artificers of cruelty, 
in the workshops of Bigotry and Superstition. It is difficult to 
forget that dark epoch in the history of Italy, when her l-earned 
men "did nothing but bemoan the servile condition into which 
learning amongst them was brought;" -v^^hen tyrannical restraints 
upon the liberty of the press and the liberty of thought "had 
damped the glory of Italian wits, and nothing was written for 
years but flattery and fustian ;" when not a scholar could send 
forth a "single Enchiridion, without the Castle of St. Angelo 
of an imprimatur ;" and when the bold champion of English 
liberty "found and visited the famous Galileo grown old, a pris- 
oner to the Inquisition, for thinking in astronomy otherwise than 
the Franciscan and Dominican licensers thought.'"=^ I would 

* Miltori's Areopaglfioa. 



( ^0 ) 

ask for llio land of Cicero and Brulus, a final dellvrrance from a 
government, whichever sanctioned either in theory or practice 
such abominable outrages upon human rights, such horrible refine- 
ment upon human suffering. Let the representative of St. Peter 
enjoy all the rights which appertain to the sanctity of his position. 
Let him have the keys, and all other appendages of his holy office. 
Let him have the mitre, — but without the golden circles, — and 
all other emblems of spiritual and Apostolical dominion ; but 
let him surrender to his subjects all claims to sovereign politi- 
cal power ; and God grant that the day may shortly arrive 
when from the rising to the setting sun, there may be no fealty 
acknowledged to any earthly sovereignty, save the sovereignty 
of the people I 

To the mind of the Republican philosopher there are presented 
many cogent reasons to hope for the realization of this prayer 
in the popular convulsions which have recently agitated the 
monarchies of continental Europe. Whether these convulsions 
have been the result of Republican examples in our own land 
or of the more general and efficient cliffiision of intelligence by 
the more liberal and enlarged'"systems of education enjoyed by 
the subjects of many of the potentates of Europe, their ultimate 
effects and consequences cannot otherwise than prove favora- 
ble to a wider and more uniform dissemination of the principles 
of constitutional liberty. Those of us who have watched with 
interest the progress of educational reform in the old world, are 
struck with the salutary and momentous changes effected within 
a limited period. 

We know that during the middle ages learning was confined 
to monasteries and colleges, which, acting in subserviency to 
the mandates of despotism, fixed bounds to the aspirations of 
the human mind. Almost everywhere, they were the pliant, 
submissive instruments to accomplish the purposes of tyranny. 
Within a very recent period, and in Prussia too, w^here the sys- 
tem of education is now the most liberal and the most perfect, 
history, we are told, was not permitted to be studied in the 
schools, until pruned and modified, to fit it for the unsuspecting 



( oi ) 

recipients of the doctrines of passive obedience. There were 
startling facts in the long career of monarchies, Avhich could not 
with security be divulged to their faithful subjects. The records 
of despotism required obliteration. The past was too terrible for 
the hopes of the future. The bold chroniclers of oppression 
had told their tales in language too plain and comprehensible 
for the stability of thrones. 

As American republicans we hail these European revolutions 
as harbingers of a far brighter and happier era in European 
civilization. Although " the riders of the winds" and " stirrers 
of the storms" of revolution have in some instances, at least, 
been inadequate to the control of the elements they put in mo- 
tion, it is not for us, as Americans, to despair of the ultimate 
triumph of the great principles of civil and religious liberty 
throughout the world. In Haynau and his butcheries, we in- 
deed behold revived those periods in the history of nations* 
when the axe and the block, the faggot and the stake were the 
cherished instruments of enforcing obedience to the mandates 
of power. They were periods of horror Avhich the Apostles of 
freedom had believed could never again be witnessed in a civi- 
lized land or a Christian age. But as sure as " Truth is the 
body of God, a?id light is Ms shadow,^' a day of retribution will 
come. As the head of Orpheus torn from his bleeding form 
and cast upon the waters of the Hebrus, still poured upon the 
mystic air his melancholy wail for the lost Eurydice, so* shall 
the cry for freedom from the Hungarian martyr, rise upon 
every wind of Heaven and be borne to every Christian clime, 
long after the axe of the executioner has obeyed the sanguinary 
behests of Austrian justice. 

When we remember that the political bigotry and oppression 
Avhich have aroused the spirit of revolution in other lands, are 
unfelt and unseen throughout our broad American domain, we 
cannot be too grateful for llie happy and elevated position now 
occupied by our country in the eyes of the world. To that 
country and her free institutions we are indebted for all the 
blessings of intellectual exi.-<tence. Here the human mind 



( 32 ) 

Fange;^ with a full coiiscioasiJie.ss of ils iadepeiRleiicc, overall 
the works of creation, uncontrolled by the spirit of iniolerance 
unawed by the mandates of power. The niaxuii of tyrants 
from the times of Caligula to the present hour, — oderinl diim 
mduanl-^'ias no terrors for us. Here the factitious splendor of 
royal diadems, must fade into insignificance before the moral 
effulgence of Liberty. " A strip of velvet decked with jewels," 
can never be associated in our imaginations with anything sa- 
cred or venerable. Its divine antiquity so often appealed to 
with reverential awe, by the minions of despotism, can never 
ereate in our mhids ought else than melancholy regret that 
mankind shovild have slumbered so long in ignorance and de- 
lusion, — so long have remained unconscious of their own digni- 
ty and moral destiny. 

It becomes us gratefully to acknowledge and faithfully to 
repay the blessings we enjoy, by an ardent devotion to duty in 
whatever capacity or position we may be called upon to act. 
There are none too humble 1o perform a good deed or to say 
a good word for the spirit of Liberty. 

Upon you, my young friends, Avill soon devolve the high com- 
mission entrusted to every American. It will be your duty to 
aid, not only in preserving, but improving and extending this 
rich inheritance of a glorious ancestry. It will be your duty 
not only to advocate the diffusion of knowledge among all 
classes of our fellow-men, but to strive to elevate far higher the 
standard of learning in every art and every profession. Let 
literature and the sciences be studied on a much higher and 
nobler scale. Let intellectual superiority, where it is accom- 
panied by moral excellence, be the only test of distinction 
among men. In the discharge of the momentous obligations 
you are shortly to assume, you have nothing to rely on for suc- 
cess but individual energy, fortified by dauntless hearts. Yon 
have no Augustus to bestow upon you patronage, or to lift n])on 
you the light ol' an imperial countenance. You have no Ha- 
roun, al Raschid, to call you from the shades of obscarity, to 
'^ summon you lo speak upon doublful questicnsj and to stand 



(33) 

in the presence of the Caliph." You have no Lorenzo the 
Magnificent, to lavish upon you revvrards to stimulate you to 
intellectual effort. Less favored than your young brethren in 
our American Athens, you have no Lawrences and Appletons, 
to provide with almost princely munificence, and with 
motives and objects far more pure and patriotic than ever ani- 
mated the breasts of princes, extensive libraries, in which the 
mind may clothe itself in the armor that will enable it to engage 
successfully in the conflicts of life. But to this Hall which we 
dedicate to the cause of Literature and Science, we bid you 
ever welcome. Here you may gather strength for the trials 
that await you. Here upon the altar consecrated to Learning, 
you may swear eternal hostility to the powers of Ignorance. 
The cause of learning is the cause of your country ; and re- 
member that true national greatness and true national glory can 
only be preserved and perpetuated by the promotion of mental 
and moral excelknce. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 793 153 A 



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